Black money: India presses for auto exchange of tax information
India has pushed for fast implementation of the automatic exchange of information that would help to trace transactions of money illegally stashed abroad. The issue was raised by minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha at the meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors.
“The minister advocated for full and fast implementation of automatic exchange of information within the agreed timeframe and on a global scale including by all financial centres,” said a finance ministry statement on the recently concluded G20 meet in Istanbul.
Pointing out that this would help India to trace transactions of money illegally earned or stashed in foreign banks without paying appropriate taxes in the countries where those transactions took place, the ministry further said, “India also called for addressing the concerns of developing countries while implementing the base erosion and profit shifting initiative and preparation of toolkits to assist them for effective implementation.”
During his intervention at the meet on February 9 and 10, Sinha also expressed concern over the unconventional monetary policies adopted by a number of advanced economies and emphasised on the need for having an effective mechanism to deal with negative spillovers that may arise due to these policies or due to unexpected and disorderly withdrawal of these policies in future.
The minister also raised the issue of quota reforms at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with a view to increase the representation of developing countries in the multilateral lending agency.
“India called for strengthening the IMF through implementing the 2010 quota and governance reforms and creating an environment for multilateral swaps to overcome such negative impact,” Sinha said.
The quota reform, if implemented, will increase India’s voting share in IMF from the current 2.44 per cent to 2.75 per cent, following which the country will become the eighth largest quota holder at the IMF, up from the 11th position.
